This morning on my way to work, I was listening to the Mike Tirico radio show. Joe Morgan was spouting his usual nonsense about how the Yankees are a "confusing team," and how he's not sure how they're going to win games.
Then some crazy shit happened.
"They're not -- and I won't say manufacturing -- but producing runs." I nearly drove my imaginary car through the walls of my mother's basement!
He won't say "manufacturing?" He won't say "manufacturing runs?"
Until this morning, "manufacturing" was one of Joe Morgan's favorite things to say. His favorite soccer team was Manchester United, just so he could get half a boner by saying "Man U" repeatedly. If Joe Morgan were an eskimo, et cetera et cetera.
"I won't say manufacturing." It's troubling, really. Has someone talked some sense into him? Has someone talked some different nonsense in to him? Is Bill Fremp doing a perfect Joe Morgan impression in audio-only interviews?
Aaand, this just in: Joe Morgan is in fact an eskimo!
Labels: bill fremp, joe morgan, manufacturing runs, mother's basement
From Jerry Crasnik's ESPN.com article on the Pirates:
A National League scout who watched Pittsburgh get swept by San Francisco thinks the Pirates will be hard-pressed to win 75 games this season. "They don't know how to manufacture runs, they don't know how to move runners, and they don't know how to make their hits count,'' said the scout.They may also be hard-pressed to win 75 games because they aren't very good.
"Manufacturing" runs is, as all four of us who post on this board know, a meaningless phrase that equates to "giving away outs." "Moving runners" is part of manufacturing runs. And as for "making their hits count," well, I'm not sure how you can make your hits count. It seems like you gets hits or you don't. The Pirates are 27th in the league in OBP, 26th in SLG, and thus 26th in OPS. But there is hope. They are 13th in P/PA, 18th in BB/PA. Not fantastic, but better than you might expect given their record and the fact that they've scored 91 runs this year. This says to me that they've gotten a little unlucky, maybe, at the plate, and that they have underachievers, as evidenced by Jack Wilson's .219 SLG. Yikes.
Their real long-term problem, Mr. Scout, is probably that they are 25th in DEF EFF and don't have any pitching. Not that they don't know how to "make their hits count."
Labels: jerry crasnick, manufacturing runs
